Monday, January 23, 2017

Start your week with the Art Advocacy Fab Five!

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 I'm introducing a new feature on the blog today! Every Sunday night I will be posting an "Art Advocacy Fab Five" - five easy tips for the week, (or a tip each work day), to help you get through your work-week while keeping advocacy at the forefront! A big Thank You to Donnalyn Shuster, a regular contributor to this blog and a fellow member of our NYSATA Advocacy Committee, for contributing the content for today's and the upcoming 'Fab Five' posts. Here we go!!

Second semester is on the horizon. Beat the midwinter blues with some energizing projects and proven strategies to build awareness, involve stakeholders and put some fun into serious program promotion!

1 Famous Art Quotes - Have students create posters based on famous art quotes. Use traditional media or Photoshop.

2 On My Own Time - Host a school-wide exhibition of creative efforts by students, faculty and staff (include your BOE and parent groups). Host an 'opening reception' so that all of the stakeholders in your community can gather to discuss the role of art in their personal lives! (Unity Through Art!)

3 Unity Through Art - use the YAM national theme, and pose these questions to your students: How can they best illustrate this theme? How have the visual arts brought people together? What is the power of the visual image? Tie it in with middle and high school social studies classes - the power of images to unite or to motivate! involve other student organizations in this project - how to use a "school community" art project to bring everyone together..

4 Add some fun and challenge to PE classes - have students design and construct a 'miniature golf course' 6 hole challenge - and host a mini-tournament. Get the staff involved also! With permission, post about it on your school website, and/or write a story about it for your local newspaper.

5 Create your own Manikin Challenge for the arts and post it on your school web page (with permission).